Restored for God's Glory: Gardening

Friday, September 15, 2017

My 1-Year ElkoVersary

Hello my sisters and brothers in Christ!

I pray you and yours are doing well. I am doing awesome, to God be the glory. A year ago on this day, I got in a plane from Maryland and moved to a small town in northeast Nevada called Elko, after accepting a job position. With God's grace, I have had an amazing year in my career and growing as a mining engineer and God has blessed me with amazing people in this town and beyond - through friendships, work, church, and community. During this year, I started gardening, became a wildland firefighter and resource advisor, ran my first relay, went ice fishing, serving as a leader in my church's kids and teens ministries as well as worship ministry, volunteered and attended Elko's Cowboy Poetry Gathering as well as the Annual Mine Expo, attended the Ruby Mountain Balloon festival, basque festival, and Elko County Fair. I have learned that there's more to Nevada than Las Vegas, and of course hike my namesake mountain range - Ruby Mountains - and so much more! Elko has been so good to me and I am happy to call it home.

My coworker, supervisor, and mentor

Attending Horizon Hospice's 11th Annual "Community Souper Bowl" in April. This annual fundraiser features endless servings of donated soups served, along with artist-created bowls. I believe I had about 15 different types of soups and they were delicious! Horizon Hospice is a non-profit, all-volunteer hospice providing a team of specially trained volunteers on call 24-hours a day. Horizon Hospice can provide pain medications, equipment and supplies, instructions in caregiving to help loved ones care for the patient, respite services, comfort care therapies such as music, art and essential oils, and bereavement support for surviving family members. The organization also operates Horizon Center, offering peer grief support groups for children, teens and adults. Hearing the story of folks that have been blessed with their services as well as the work the people of the Hospice does. It makes me so proud to be part of the community in this little ol' town of Elko which I call home.

Being prayed over by my coverings at the church God has planted me in in Elko. I am blessed to be part of Living Stones. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Ephesians‬ ‭4:11-16‬

Sometime in May I got to speak to some Cub Scouts at the Spring Creek Fire Station for their den meeting. Each week, the group has someone present on a certain career and the boys do a project on the career or speciality, part of their Webelos handbook. My co-worker, who's a firefighter, asked me to come and talk about what an engineer does as well as what exactly is a mining engineer. Being that Elko is a mining town, these kids know what mining is and have family members and/or neighbors working in the mines. My goal was to take them into the life of a mining engineer as well as the stages of mining and it's relevance in everyday life. The boys (and their dads/grandpa) had so many great questions and were really engaged throughout the presentation, which made it all the way enjoyable for me! It was pretty cool to have one of the sisters of a Cub Scout join us, little Miss Bella, and she was so into it too like the boys! I'm all about getting them when they're young, so hopefully I may have convinced a 9/10-year-old to become a mining engineer when he grows up as well as show Bella that girls can be engineers too and get to play with explosives!

LS Kids - Purple Room

July 4th at the Spring Creek Parade

Hiking Talbott Trail at the Ruby Mountains

Picking out weeds in my garden

Elko County Fair

Community Group - LS Teens High School Girls

Nevada Mining Association 2017 Convention in South Lake Tahoe

For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

2 Corinthians 1:20-22

God bless you.

Jesus loves you.

Restored woman living for God's Glory,

Ruby B. Johnson.

Have you given your heart to God? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal savior? If you die today, will you make it to Heaven? If no or you are unsure, do not waste any more time and receive salvation now.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Godly Lessons: Sowing Seeds and Gardening

Hello my sisters and brothers in Christ!

I pray you and yours are doing well. I am doing well, thanks to my awesome Father in Heaven. So today I got to do something I have always wanted to do - plant my own vegetables and fruits. I have always wanted to have a garden - farm really - but garden is a good start for this rookie gardener who has yet to get her green thumb. Now that I finally have my own garden, I am so excited to have had my friends guide me in planting live plants and seeds (tomatoes, squash, lettuce, spinach, basil, bell peppers, onions, cilantro, etc.) and strawberries today. I am so excited to see them grow in the upcoming months and having delicious veggies to eat! Now please pray with me that there won't be any frosting in the upcoming weeks, knowing how unpredictable northeast Nevada weather can be.

Planting this garden is so timely because I have been listening to a lot of sermons lately by Dr. Tony Evans, Pastors Ron Carpenter and Jentzen Franklin about sowing seeds, preparing for a harvest, seasons, patience, and spiritual growth. Prior to planting, I took out the weeds a couple weeks ago so that it won't interfere with the fresh vegetables, herbs, and fruit I intended on planting. Weed invasions change the natural diversity and balance of ecological communities and these changes threaten the survival of many plants as the weeds compete with native plants for space, nutrients and sunlight. So as a Christian who desires to grow in faith and faithfulness, it is important to acknowledge that there are some things in our lives that hinder us from growing spiritually and being sanctified. Is our relationship with God competing with other things and people in our lives? As it says in Colossians 3:5, Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. By me yanking out those roots of the weeds in the soil, and not just the leaves, it is putting to death opportunities for the weeds to grow again. However, I did not bring an end to weeds ever growing in the garden. Moving forward, I have to check on the garden weekly to see if there are weeds growing out and to uproot them. This also applies to our spiritual lives. The moment we receive salvation does not mean our fleshly desires die and sin is annihilated - we have to constantly search our heart, seek righteousness from God, and allow the Holy Spirit to guide and free us from strongholds. How blessed are we as Christians that even though we are oh so imperfect and we fall into sin sometimes, we have a God whose mercies are new every morning and He restores us?

After the weeding, the planting happened. The plants did not just grow right in front of my eyes and voila! I have vegetables to eat. It will take time to grow. As it says in Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted. Time is important when it comes to planting. Now, I need to practice patience in the upcoming weeks/months before I will see the results of what I have planted. Just as we would not see results of faith immediately but in due time, God will show Himself faithful. The education I received in college prepared me to be a mining engineer, and that education I received at Virginia Tech now helps me to perform my job better and I get to apply the education. This shows how every season in our lives matter even when they seem like nothing is happening. Today I buried several seeds of vegetables and herbs but it will take weeks/months to germinate to a place that they can be harvested. Right now, the seeds may seem worthless but will produce something nutritious in the near future. What I can do now is make sure the seeds/plants get sunlight and enough water. In order for it to perform its task, I have to do my part. As folks commonly say, the grass is greener on the other side. The grass is greener on the other side because it is being taken care of - that is exactly what I have to do on my side. As Christians, we cannot compare ourselves to others and envy the blessings of others. We do not know what seeds that other person has planted and how they have nurtured their garden. Even when we plant the same seeds and plants, the soils and access to sunlight may differ. That other person may put covers on their plants everyday to protect it from frosting that we may not be doing.

As I wait for the seeds to germinate and wait for a harvest, I have to keep moving forward in life. As we wait in faith for God to bless us with what we desire and seek from Him, we have to keep doing life everyday. We cannot just sit and wait for God to do something. Sometimes God tells us to make a move in order for His will to be done. As a single woman in this season of my life right now, I am trusting God to be a godly wife and mother in the future, I know that experiences now prepare me for that. Serving under leadership of my pastors as well as submitting to the authority of my supervisor at work will teach me to be a submissive wife; working with the kids and youth ministry at Church will teach me how to lead and love unconditionally, because these kids are in no way perfect but it is my desire that they love and live for God so it is my duty to allow the Holy Spirit to guide me as I disciple them. As it says in Galatians 6:9, And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. We must be reminded that God has already planted the right people in our lives and giving us the experiences we need to grow and be equipped for what's to come in the future. When we give our life to God, nothing is wasted. Every failure, every accomplishment, every heartbreak, every obstacle, every tear, every loss, every disappointment, every seed planted prepares us for the future. God will surely get the glory.